Luke Littler might just be the best player in the world right now, according to Luke Humphries, but Cool Hand Luke took the top prize at Minehead at the boy wonder’s expense
Luke Littler turned his holiday camp fortress into a tungsten torture chamber as his barnstorming Ladbrokes Players Championship campaign ran out of stardust.
After a rampant run to the final at Butlins in Minehead, The Nuke went down 11-7 against Luke Humphries in the last TV major final of 2024. For Cool Hand Luke, who banked the £120,000 top prize, it was a sixth major title and the first one he has defended successfully.
And world champion Humphries ends the calendar year as he began it – getting the better of Warrington’s boy wonder.
On the evidence of the last 72 hours in north Devon, the Lukes of hazard will be the men to beat when the circus pitches its big top at Alexandra Palace for the PDC World Championship next month.
The draw is made in London on Monday and Humphries said: “I’m really proud of that one – I didn’t feel myself earlier this week, but Luke seems to bring the best out of me. I rode my luck getting to the final because I was in my comfort zone, but I travel the world for these moments.
“If you go by stats, he is easily the best player in the world right now so it’s satisfying to win this one when I haven’t been at my best.”
It was a step too far for 17-year-old Littler, who was strangely out of sorts in the opening five-leg segment. He averaged a lowly 80 and missed 11 of his 12 darts at a double, allowing Humphries to surge into a 4-1 lead.
He closed the gap with a ‘big fish’ 170 finish and, by the time he followed it up with 164 and 136 checkouts, both players were really motoring.
But Littler admitted he had left himself too much to do, saying: “It was tough and if you don’t take your chances early on, it’s tough to come back.
“It’s been a good past two weeks after winning the Grand Slam and reaching another major final.
“Now I can’t wait to get home, chill out and then move on to the big one.”
